This is a simplified template that can be used by small or medium sized businesses to create a basic Business Continuity Plan. Other templates and on-line products exist that can be used for undertaking comprehensive Business Impact & Risk Analysis (BIRA) and continuity planning. We suggest you review a number of these before deciding which is best for you.

Whichever approach you take, the following steps will need to be completed and this template has been designed to guide you through the process. It should be used in conjunction with the toolkit which includes advice, examples and supporting information.

Step 1

Assign responsibilities

Identify those within the organisation who will be responsible for business continuity

Step 2

Analyse your business

Understand the impact of disruption and the priorities for recovery

Step 3

Identify dependencies

Identify the activities and resources that are critical to your operational priorities

Step 4

Assess the risks

Identify points of vulnerability

Step 5

Develop your strategy

Decide how you could recover business critical operations, or what you would do if this were impossible

Step 7

Develop your plan

Document the plan activation process in step by step format

Step 8

Exercise your plan

Train staff on the plan and their roles, test the underpinning arrangements

Step 9

Plan maintenance

Establish a schedule for ongoing review and updating.

Business Name

Version Number

Date

Date for next review

Plan distribution list

Name

Role

Phone number/email address

Issued on

Table 1: Ownership / Responsibility for Business Continuity

Identify the people within your organisation who have responsibility for overseeing, delivering and maintaining business continuity resilience.

Role

Position

Name

Table 2: Business Impact Analysis

What are your core services and business functions? For each that you list provide answers for the following questions:

Is it time critical? If so, what is the typical lead time?

Would your customers tolerate delays?

Are you providing this service in a competitive or regulated market?

Does the income from this service or function contribute significantly to overall revenues and profit?

Refer to the Toolkit for a suggested 5 level priority rating scale.

Description (service or function)

Is it time critical? If so, what is the typical lead time?

Would your customers tolerate delays?

Are you providing this service in a competitive or regulated market?

Does the income contribute significantly to overall revenues and profit?

Priority rating (1 to 5)

Create new item (1)

Create new item

Description (service or function)

Is it time critical? If so, what is the typical lead time?

Would your customers tolerate delays?

Are you providing this service in a competitive or regulated market?

Does the income contribute significantly to overall revenues and profit?

Priority rating (1 to 5)

Create new item (2)

Create new item

Description (service or function)

Is it time critical? If so, what is the typical lead time?

Would your customers tolerate delays?

Are you providing this service in a competitive or regulated market?

Does the income contribute significantly to overall revenues and profit?

Priority rating (1 to 5)

Create new item (3)

Create new item

Description (service or function)

Would your customers tolerate delays?

Are you providing this service in a competitive or regulated market?

Does the income contribute significantly to overall revenues and profit?

Priority rating (1 to 5)

Create new item (4)

Create new item

Description (service or function)

Is it time critical? If so, what is the typical lead time?

Would your customers tolerate delays?

Are you providing this service in a competitive or regulated market?

Does the income contribute significantly to overall revenues and profit?

Priority rating (1 to 5)

Create new item (5)

Create new item

Description (service or function)

Is it time critical? If so, what is the typical lead time?

Would your customers tolerate delays?

Are you providing this service in a competitive or regulated market?

Does the income contribute significantly to overall revenues and profit?

Priority rating (1 to 5)

Create new item (6)

Create new item

Description (service or function)

Is it time critical? If so, what is the typical lead time?

Would your customers tolerate delays?

Are you providing this service in a competitive or regulated market?

Does the income contribute significantly to overall revenues and profit?

Priority rating (1 to 5)

Create new item (7)

Create new item

Description (service or function)

Is it time critical? If so, what is the typical lead time?

Would your customers tolerate delays?

Are you providing this service in a competitive or regulated market?

Does the income contribute significantly to overall revenues and profit?

Priority rating (1 to 5)

Create new item (8)

Create new item

Description (service or function)

Is it time critical? If so, what is the typical lead time?

Would your customers tolerate delays?

Are you providing this service in a competitive or regulated market?

Does the income contribute significantly to overall revenues and profit?

Priority rating (1 to 5)

Create new item (9)

Create new item

Description (service or function)

Is it time critical? If so, what is the typical lead time?

Would your customers tolerate delays?

Are you providing this service in a competitive or regulated market?

Does the income contribute significantly to overall revenues and profit?

Priority rating (1 to 5)

Table 3: Operational Dependencies

For each of the services and functions identified as having Priority Levels 1, 2 and 3, identify the resources required for delivering them and the MINIMUM LEVEL at which these would be required to conduct critical operations to a minimum acceptable level.

Description (service or process)

Essential resources (critical dependencies)

Staff

Description

Quantity

Specialist skills & expertise

Description

Quantity

Computer systems and comms

Description

Quantity

Equipment

Description

Quantity

Supplies and third party services

Description

Quantity

Create new item (1)

Create new item

Description (service or process)

Essential resources (critical dependencies)

Staff

Description

Quantity

Specialist skills & expertise

Description

Quantity

Computer systems and comms

Description

Quantity

Equipment

Description

Quantity

Supplies and third party services

Description

Quantity

Create new item (2)

Create new item

Description (service or process)

Essential resources (critical dependencies)

Staff

Description

Quantity

Specialist skills & expertise

Description

Quantity

Computer systems and comms

Description

Quantity

Equipment

Description

Quantity

Supplies and third party services

Description

Quantity

Create new item (3)

Create new item

Description (service or process)

Essential resources (critical dependencies)

Staff

Description

Quantity

Specialist skills & expertise

Description

Quantity

Computer systems and comms

Description

Quantity

Equipment

Description

Quantity

Supplies and third party services

Description

Quantity

Create new item (4)

Create new item

Description (service or process)

Essential resources (critical dependencies)

Staff

Description

Quantity

Specialist skills & expertise

Description

Quantity

Computer systems and comms

Description

Quantity

Equipment

Description

Quantity

Supplies and third party services

Description

Quantity

Create new item (5)

Create new item

Description (service or process)

Essential resources (critical dependencies)

Staff

Description

Quantity

Specialist skills & expertise

Description

Quantity

Computer systems and comms

Description

Quantity

Equipment

Description

Quantity

Supplies and third party services

Description

Quantity

Create new item (6)

Create new item

Description (service or process)

Essential resources (critical dependencies)

Staff

Description

Quantity

Specialist skills & expertise

Description

Quantity

Computer systems and comms

Description

Quantity

Equipment

Description

Quantity

Supplies and third party services

Description

Quantity

Create new item (7)

Create new item

Description (service or process)

Essential resources (critical dependencies)

Staff

Description

Quantity

Specialist skills & expertise

Description

Quantity

Computer systems and comms

Description

Quantity

Equipment

Description

Quantity

Supplies and third party services

Description

Quantity

Create new item (8)

Create new item

Description (service or process)

Essential resources (critical dependencies)

Staff

Description

Quantity

Specialist skills & expertise

Description

Quantity

Computer systems and comms

Description

Quantity

Equipment

Description

Quantity

Supplies and third party services

Description

Quantity

Create new item (9)

Create new item

Description (service or process)

Essential resources (critical dependencies)

Staff

Description

Quantity

Specialist skills & expertise

Description

Quantity

Computer systems and comms

Description

Quantity

Equipment

Description

Quantity

Supplies and third party services

Description

Quantity

Table 4: Risk Assesment

Taking each resource that was identified in Table 3 as a critical dependency for an essential process, determine whether there are identifiable hazards that could give rise to business disruption or interruption.

Identify any backup arrangements that could be deployed in their place.

Allocate a risk matrix score (see Toolkit).

Essential resources (critical dependencies)

Staff

Hazards (vulnerability)

Backup available?

Risk Matrix score

Specialist skills and expertise

Hazards (vulnerability)

Backup available?

Risk Matrix score

Computer systems and comms

Hazards (vulnerability)

Backup available?

Risk Matrix score

Equipment

Hazards (vulnerability)

Backup available?

Risk Matrix score

Supplies and third party services

Hazards (vulnerability)

Backup available?

Risk Matrix score

Transport

Hazards (vulnerability)

Backup available?

Risk Matrix score

Table 5: Contingency Plans

Using the information you have gathered so far, build up a statement of requirements for your Business Continuity Plan using the following tables:

Table 7: Training and Testing Schedule

To ensure that your Business Contingency Plan can be efficiently and successfully implemented in anger it is vital that all staff and third parties who have a role within it are familiar with the strategy and their roles. It is also vital that the plan is regularly reviewed and kept up to date. This will require an ongoing programme including:

Validation (walk through)

Familiarisation training (desk top exercise)

Testing

Refresher training

Activity

Scope, objectives and frequency

Date

Table 8: Plan Maintenance Schedule

Your Business Contingency Plan should be audited at regular intervals to ensure it remains up to date and reflects the changing nature of the business. This process will also provide the opportunity to maintain awareness of BCM amongst staff and suppliers.

Activity

Scope, objectives and frequency

Date

Please note that this plan will be created as a PDF document. You can print this document but you will need to convert it into a text format before you can edit it. This can be done through Microsoft Word 2013 or Adobe Acrobat XI Standard. If you don’t have either of these you can send you pdf document to the Resilience Partnership Team using the Contact Us screen and we will convert if for you.